Revolt of the Elephants There is a continuing saga from Africa, one that the folks who run the eco-tourism business are uncomfortable with. The elephants appear to be rallying for the last stand of their species. The social fabric is shredding. Years of assault by poachers and encroachment by humans appears to be driving them […]

Greatest Living Tiger Al Kaline is the greatest living Tiger. I make that bald assertion calmly and without bombast. It is simply true. Al’s position in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown is secure, along with his non-steroid enhanced statistics: I twenty-two seasons, he was both the youngest and older player in the American league. […]

I was talking to the Queen of the Dead yesterday over at her Headquarters, just downhill from the Capitol. To get to her, I did not have to take a barge up the Styx, or the Potomac. I just walked past the television monitors in the heroic lobby where the images of the horse-drawn buggies […]

Multi-path We had an extended meeting in the Pentagon yesterday about multi-path communications. We were in the little cafeteria off the Third Corridor on the second floor. We were there because a zealous contract security officer was on the prowl in the office we were supposed to visit, and word was that my associate’s laptop […]

I was reading the National Intelligence Estimate on the war in Iraq this week. It wasn’t the whole thing, just the key judgment section, but trust me, these things are dry as dust. The controversy made it interesting though, and I have never seen anything go from Tippy-top secret to the office e-mail so fast! […]

For most of us, this is a week that seems like most others on the green banks of the Potomac. If you looked at Washington from high above, you might not see anything unusual. Perhaps you would notice more helicopters darting back and forth, aluminum dragonflies that know no season. The increased security would be […]

Key Judgments The Waffle Shop is not a WiFi hot spot. It would never occur to management to encourage the transients to linger at the serpentine white Formica counter a moment longer than it takes to slurp down their coffee, black, and mop up the yolks of their eggs, easy-over, with the toasted white bread […]

Revealed Truth The threat of terrorism has increased because of the Iraq war, which has attracted foreign fighters. This is revealed truth, or at least revealed classified opinion. I was electrified Sunday when I heard all the talking heads analyzing a document they are not supposed to see. It is a huge story, even if […]

Dick is not always available when I need him. Sometimes I catch him out of the corner of my eye, in the brown chair fabric chair that came from his house in Pennsylvania. Not the one with the cushion that is still square. The one that is a little lumpy from long use, and where […]

Full Spectrum I walked out of Union Station completely unaware of the sticking point. The vast marble bulk of the train station was behind me, tourists jamming the concourse the runs between the Metro and the real trains. The Phoenix Park Hotel, home of the Dubliner bar, was on my right. Fish and Chips and […]